“How do you hold a surf contest if there’s no surf?” said the barrel-chested man known as Da Bull.

The short answer: You don’t.

The official contest window for the 2007 edition of the Mavericks Surf Contest will expire today with little more than a whisper from the North Pacific.

There wasn’t much hope as the end drew near. As contestant Evan Slater put it earlier in the week: “Unless a meteor lands 1,000 miles off Half Moon Bay in the next day or so, there’s no way in hell the contest is running.”

Organizers and sponsors are understandably disappointed by a winter swell season believed to be among the worst in the past two decades. Fans who have adopted Mavericks Day as an official Bay Area holiday — perfect for a raspy-voiced call to the boss — can’t be pleased either.

But purists of the big-wave genre are exhaling.

“The guys who ride these waves are full-on athletes. To me it would be insulting to ask them to go out in some sloppy” surf, said Noll, one of the first to ride three-story-plus waves on Oahu’s North Shore in the late 1950s.

This marks the third time a Mavericks event has been stiffed by Mother Nature in the eight times one has been scheduled — but just the first time since it was re-launched in 2004. A record crowd that approached 50,000 flooded the San Mateo coast last February.

There was talk of extending this year’s window into April — a month in which Northern Hemisphere swells can target Mavericks, but they are typically chopped up by westerly winds when they approach shore. Hard-core big-wave riders, past and present, have made it known they wouldn’t support running the $75,000 contest on a subpar day. And the message was heard.

“When Mavericks happens, it’s a gift, and when it doesn’t, we’re happy with that, too,” said Keir Beadling, the founder and CEO of Evolve Sports, which runs the event. Beadling said there will be a private closing ceremony April 6 to honor the 24 invited surfers.

“We wanted to make sure the surfers are happy with the way it ends,” he said.

The funny thing about big-wave surf contests: They don’t always happen. Look no further than the genre’s granddaddy, the Eddie Aikau Invitational, held annually at Waimea Bay.

Or not.

In its 23-year existence, surfing has been part of “The Eddie” just seven times. The waves must live up to standards set by longtime sponsor Quiksilver and big-wave surfing pioneer George Downing, the contest’s 76-year-old director.

“There will always be someone who wants to second-guess and question,” Downing said via e-mail this week. “But that is why the decision to run the event is made by people who are acquainted with the location.”

Longtime Mavericks contest surfers are confident the show will only go on when — and if — the stage is properly set.